Quality of Schooling, Returns to Schooling and the 1981 Vouchers Reform in Chile
This paper exploits unique information on cognitive ability to examine the importance of schooling and non-schooling cognitive skills for heterogeneous individuals using instrumental variables estimation. Using a binary instrument based on the 1981...
Main Authors: | , |
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Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/05/9429496/quality-schooling-returns-schooling-1981-vouchers-reform-chile http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6721 |
Summary: | This paper exploits unique information
on cognitive ability to examine the importance of schooling
and non-schooling cognitive skills for heterogeneous
individuals using instrumental variables estimation. Using a
binary instrument based on the 1981 reform in Chile, the
authors find that the main beneficiaries of the reform were
those who at the time were pupils in basic schooling (ages
6-13). For this treated group of pupils, only a negligible
part of the estimated return to schooling is due to
classical ability bias. The labor market reward to an
additional year of schooling is a measure of the
"true" non-cognitive return to schooling.
However, once the treated group is expanded to include
secondary school students, the pure return to schooling
decreases dramatically, while the return to schooling
cognitive and non-schooling cognitive skills increases
accordingly, suggesting that a large part of the estimated
return in an earnings function is due to classical ability
bias. For this treated group (mixture of basic school and
secondary school age students), the labor market rewarded
cognitive skills (especially those acquired through
schooling) significantly. |
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